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data throttling

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AT&T Mobility hit back hard against the FCC's proposed $100 million fine for not being transparent enough with its grandfathered unlimited data plan customers about how and when their speeds would be reduced if they use too much data. In its formal response to the agency, the carrier called the fine "unprecedented and indefensible" and said a court would toss it out if the FCC decided to levy the penalty.

T-Mobile US said its network management policy of throttling the speeds of smartphone customers on its unlimited LTE plans once they hit 21 GB of data usage in a month and are on congested cell sites is permitted under the FCC's net neutrality rules.

Sprint decided to end its practice of slowing down the data speeds of its heaviest mobile data users after the FCC's net neutrality rules went into effect last Friday. The decision is one of the first concrete impacts of the rules, which apply to wireless networks and bar data throttling except in cases of "reasonable network management."

The FCC is proposing to fine AT&T Mobility $100 million for not being transparent enough with its grandfathered unlimited data plan customers about how and when their speeds would be reduced if they use too much data. The fine is the largest the FCC has ever proposed.

AT&T Mobility changed its data throttling policy, and will throttle the data speeds of customers on legacy unlimited data plans only when they are connected to congested cell sites, regardless of the kind of smartphone they have.

The FCC is set to vote on final net neutrality rules on Feb. 26, and T-Mobile US and the CTIA are urging the agency to give wireless carriers a great deal of flexibility in designing new service plans and business models.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's draft order to create net neutrality rules will apply all of the rules to mobile broadband networks for the first time. One of the practical effects of the proposed rules is that wireless carriers would have less flexibility to deploy "reasonable network management" practices on their networks. The rules would also put future uses of zero-rating and sponsored data programs under the microscope to ensure they are not harming consumers or content providers.

América Móvil's U.S. MVNO, TracFone Wireless, agreed to pay $40 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that it duped millions of consumers by advertising unlimited data service and then throttling customers' speeds or cutting their service off entirely when they exceeded certain data allotments. The FTC said TracFone did not properly disclose its throttling practices.